Educating Young birds- Secrets your Top Competitors do not want you to know. 

Something I will certainly consider in the future. I will do live stream soon and take questions from the subscribers.

I like the idea as well

That would be a great idea 💡😎 would love to hear it and be able to take notes

So happy I can help. This game is not difficult!

Hello John, I have been thinking about doing a video on this. I am not sure if it will help. When I was a kid my Dad would toss in small groups or single toss when he was at field trials. I flew excellent but I have flown just as excellent last 25 years only flock training with some truck tosses. Small groups cannot hurt but not sold on if it helps very much.

So happy you liked it. I like pigeons that condition easily and stay in condition easily. Best for local racing and One Loft Racing

I have many more videos in my head. lol

Hey Todd, I like to keep them guessing and have had super seasons mostly training the wrong direction. I feel it is possible your difficult season may have happened no matter what you did. Sometimes they just do not perform. Good job on your success and there are many ways to the top on this sport. Keep it up.

I will be adding them soon. Thank you!

Hello Grant, You will do super. Keep it simple and keep it up. I will do a video on feeding soon that you will like. Cape Town is one of the best places on earth. I love it there.

I do not think it hurts to fly old birds with the young. I have never tried this but it cannot hurt.

Sir, I did it in the past and my lost to say the least is that I never lost a single youngster, not bragging. Cape Town

Depends what kind of weather you are dealing with. Hawks can be rough in January. You can certainly start them later if you need to.

Hope I helped a little

Email me and I can send this to you. Also see this video:ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-j0cJXM_C6BY.html Frank@McLaughlinLofts.com

That’s odd. This is one of my most popular videos. It plays just fine. I think the audio problem is in your end. Try on another devise. I did buy a new microphone that I will use going forward. I did watch the video earlier on my phone and the audio was great.

So nice of you

That is difficult. You need to have the coming from about 20 miles before they hit the water. If you train too close the the water they will not cross. They sort of need a running start. I do not have experience with this.

I took a look at your location and release point. There is not much you can do accept move to a new location south of where you currently are preferably south side of the bay. All research shows that pigeons invariably stay over land as long as they can before venturing over water. Then they cross as short a distance as they can to the other shore. A straight line from Alnwick to your the vicinity of your loft is roughly 129 kilometers. I believe they will fly to the point near Queensferry before they cross the bay. That means they will be flying at least extra kilometer over the straight line.

@@billastell3753 Thanks bill i will try that see how wee fare bud

Happy you enjoy.

If it was me I would train them out to maybe 25 miles over the next few weeks and then put on the dark system. Your pigeons will be molting the power flights in July without the dark and the dark might be best for you. I do not think they will finish the wing molt in time for July.

@@FrankMcLaughlinPigeons thanks Frank I will take your advice appreciate it.

Thank you!

Happy you liked it.

My pleasure!

Frank@McLaughlinLofts.com

Hello Ashraf, It seems you are lucky and your birds are learning to break. When exercising the flock is not going to break away as an entire group. The birds as they have less energy will break a few a time with the strong birds flying longer. It is a good thing that they have this opportunity to pull away from the flock and learn to break. It will help on race day. Not much you can do right now with them coming in small groups other than throwing droppers and calling them to feed as a bigger flock passes over the loft. Many may pull away and land. Best of luck, Frank

You can train when they are molting as long as they are loft flying, just pick good days and go slow. Start short and do not hurt them. If they have a long flight or more than an hour on the wing give them a day off to rest.

Hi Bob, I am doing a Live Stream today at 3pm eastern and can take questions live. Color density shows health and vitality in the young pigeons and the breeding pigeons. Strong genetics and strong immune systems usually breed pigeons with great color density. Rich and dark is favored and maybe I do a video and show a better example and explain.

You are right. I love afternoon training but have not done this in years. The pigeons learn to come out and go right home. Good point.

Always happy when you like it. Thank you!

Welcome back to the sport. Once the pigeons are in our minds you can never get them out of your mind. Happy you enjoyed my video.

Good luck!

Hi Nathan, It is best to let them out young and settle them young. Problem is the hawks. I let them get a bit stronger at two months old. They are in a settling cage for a month or so before they are free. They can escape the hawks and if chased off they can work there way back. I let out a small percentage of the babies each day over a week or so at first so a hawk attack does not chase off the entire group at once.

So happy if I can help a little bit.

Thank you for this. Al is a super guy. Great mentor and ambassador for the sport.

I am happy you like my videos. For me, I get the young birds about 60 miles before the first race. Longer is probably better but 60 miles is about as far as I go.

Thank you so much. Happy you enjoyed.

So happy you liked it!

Hi Tony, You are too nice. Glad you liked it and maybe can use something.

Hi Kerby, Thank you so much for the nice compliment., The sport is not difficult if you apply common sense and keep you birds healthy with correct body weight for the races.

I agree with everything Frank says here. I've began racing in the early 70s. One thing I've learned over the years is; a lot of nonsense can be picked up from pigeon guys. I don't know if they spread it intentionally to mess up others ability to win or if they really believe the crap they spread.

@Bill Astell I think there are certainly people who intentionally spread bad advice. My late aunt and grandmother bred exhibition dogs very successfully and many years ago when they were just starting out and had purchased their first real show puppy which became their foundation stud, they asked for advice from a very well known breeder. This well known breeder told them to brush this puppy's hair backward with a wire brush before showing him as a method of grooming. Fortunately, a professional handler overheard this "advice" and told them "Good God, don't listen to her! She's trying to sabotage you!" and she promptly took them aside and explained how she prepared dogs for the show ring. That puppy became the first of the 200+ champions that my aunt and grandmother showed to completion and he produced the first champion they bred, as well as became the grandsire of the #1 dog in the country some years later. I always remember this story when somebody tells me something that sounds like bad advice.

Much appreciated

You are very welcome

Also with various age groups of YBs ... do you rec starting them out in the sky together or release age groups when you feel each age group is ready?

Hello Karl, Mornings are always better and I like to see blue sky with big white puffy cumulus clouds. Clear blue skies are never easy for the pigeons as well as haze and blue skies. Do not start on overcast days or bad weather. I do flock toss but you could easily start the different age groups or break them up into smaller groups the first couple training tosses.

So happy you enjoyed the video. Hope you can use some of it.

Most do not understand how import rest is for pigeons. I win with pigeons that are five years old. I feel that using rest is very important.

You will love the sport and it is not difficult. It is best to learn as much as possible and understand the pigeons before you jump right in. Good pigeons, good loft, kept healthy and trained moderately with perfect body weight is all that is needed to win.

@McLaughlin Lofts thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to reply to my comment , watching and learning. Have a great weekend...

My first race is about 125 miles. If I get them to 50 miles they are ready to fly 125 miles. If your first race is 175 miles you may want to toss them down the race course to about 80 miles.

Thanks Frank. Is 4-5 months old too young for 250-300 miles races? Is there a target age that you shoot for by the time of the last couple races?

That is not too young. I wean my babies usually in June and they are racing 300 mile races early to middle of October

So happy you like them. Most fanciers are looking for information to help them save years of trial and error.

@@FrankMcLaughlinPigeons the breaking training is genius! Makes perfect sense.

Hello, I find about a week in and out of the settling cage is enough. They should be comfortable entering the loft. Best to stay with them when you let them loose to discourage hawks.

@@FrankMcLaughlinPigeons cheers frank appreciate the feedback

That getting stiff and lactic acid stuff is a myth. I should do a video on this. If fed correctly you can fly 508 miles on Saturday. Completely locked in and rested until the following Tuesday toss at 35 miles. Rest Wednesday and fly a 45 mile toss on Thursday. Team goes back to another 500 mile race for Saturday. In a two week period my old bird team exercises two times in two weeks and dominates all season long. This is what I do for the 400, 500, 500 and 600 mile races. They have to be fed perfectly to do this.

I'm very interested with the Fed correctly system. With the increase in birds of prey, fuel prices, etc anytime we can save time and keep the birds safer with great results , I'm game. In any sport you have to evolve to be successful.

Hello Herman, I am strictly an Old Bird racer. Young birds do not excite me very much although this year we have a convention race that I will work for. I race widow cocks and celibate hens. Old bird racing is for me!

@@FrankMcLaughlinPigeons I was caretaker but the owner died in November and all the pigeons were sold .We raced very well with old cocks and hens but never again total widowhood ,it begins great but when you lose birds the results drop .Young birds here in Belgium get to much medication so you end up with pigeons who are weak .A finciar like Michel Dubois never puts his yougsters in the basket but he let the pigeons grow out and the first year he looks at results is when they're 2 years old .But then he's a long distance racer .Also his youngsters get no medication at all .To me that's the way to build a strong line of pigeons .Love your videos and good luck the coming seazon .

Thank you so much! Great insight.

I should do the same. lol Sometime things slip my mind and then I read something I put on my Secrets page on the website and wonder why I stopped doing it.

Hi Lee, So happy you like my information. I keep it simple and my methods do not take a lot of time to stay at the top.

I do worm them maybe two months old before they go to the one loft races. I also worm before the race season and sometimes during the season.

My pleasure. Happy you liked it.

One loft races are a bit mysterious. All the pigeons fly home to the same location. They are not mixed with other pigeons. The winners in some of the bigger one loft races over the years had overcome adversity at some point in the training or racing. Many winners were lost and figured this out and came back to the one loft race. Much of the time the high average speed birds do not do well in the final. It seems to be the birds that did have to think more, because they made mistakes throughout the series that win the series.

@@FrankMcLaughlinPigeons do you think that a pigeon fancier that lives in a bad loft location and can’t win a race in his club can win in a one loft race? As it’s very hard to see how good the pigeons are because they’re not winning but the pigeons at a good loft location may not have as good birds, would you agree with my theory?

@@hendry147147 I'm not Frank but I would agree with you. Just because a persons birds don't win in club races means very little. Club and combine wins have more to do with weather, location and the quality of management. In one loft racing it's pretty much all about the birds individual qualities. In one loft racing all those variable are the same.

@@billastell3753 I’m from the Uk and I had a pigeon 4th in the ace pigeon before it’s went to the final race, which they had to cross the water , out of 100 birds that’s was in the final (386 was in the loft at the start) only 16 came back on the day , first bird wasn’t quick either. These birds are 6-9 months old and you’re sending them to cross the water and expect a good race … if they’d race from the coast and I’m pretty sure the results would of been different plus more returns. my 4th ace pigeon didn’t make it back unfortunately. Another thing with pigeon fanciers that they’ll treat for this or treat for that and absolutely no reason for it . Why can’t they be brave enough to tell everyone at the one loft races that they’re NOT going to treat them? …

I learn from you!

So happy you enjoyed.

I usually train them to trap later closer to the season. My birds tend to come home and run in because of the hawks. I must do a video on trap training tips.

Very welcome

I must do a video on that. I do not worry about trapping very much until a few weeks before the race season. With all the hawks around my birds like to go in fairly quickly when they come home.

My Dad's father was from Galway. I am mostly Italian but have the Irish last name.

Happy you liked it.

You are too nice. Thank you so much.

I have fun doing these. Happy you liked it.

@@FrankMcLaughlinPigeons I really do. Love the content and the thought process. Let me know when the book comes out. I'll get one for sure. ;-)

Happy you liked it.

Happy you liked this.

Many many thanks

Thank you!

Happy you liked it.

So happy you like my videos.

You are too nice! Racing and competing will be so much fun.

@@FrankMcLaughlinPigeons most definitely 😎🙏🏼🏆